Improved bullet-machine



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. D. GUSTER.

BULLET MACHINE.

Patented June 14, 1864.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J.-D. OUSTER. BULLET MACHINE.

1 T0.43,102. Patented June 14, 1864.

3 SheetsSheet 3. J. D. OUSTER. BULLET MACHINE.

Patented June 14, 1864.

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The return motion iscansed by a spiral spring.

is in motion during about one-eighth of the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J. D. CUSTER, OF NORRlS'lOWN, PENNSYLVANl-A.

IMPROVED BULLET-MACHINE:

'[0 all whom itmcb concern;

Be it known that I, J. D. CUSTER, of Norris town, Pennsylvania, have 'invent'ed certain new and useful Improvements in the Machine for Making Leaden Bullets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in whieh- Figure l is a plan. Figs. 2 and 3 are side views. Fig. 4 is a section through W of Fig. 1.. Fig. 5 is a section through A A ofl ig. 1. Fig. 6is a representa tion of thcblank. Fig. 7 is a. representation of the pressed lead. Fig Sis a representation of the finished bullet.

The same letters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

My said invention relates to that class of bullet-machines Whichcut the lead in blank, press it to an approximate shape, and turn it to a finished bullet: and my improvement consists in the employment, in combination with. improved tools for cutting, pressing, and turning, of a. turn-table or other equivalent device for the purpose oftransporting the lead from the place where the blank is first cut off to where it is pressed, and thence to where it is turned.

1n the machines heretofore attempted these operations were performed in the same locality. The tools had to be brought in succession to the work. The cylinder for pressing was made in several pieces, whose joints left a fin upon the pressed lead, and the punch which pressed the hollow in the rear of the bullet after-. ward served as a mandrel to turn it upon, and necessarily came in contactwith the cutter and dulled its edge.

In the accompanying drawings, A is a horizontal flat ring or turntable, which derives an intermittent ratchet movement from a slide and ratchet, ll, moved bylevers androck-shat't (J C, which derive their motion by the long bent lever coming in contact with a pin, I), upon the wheel ll upon the crank-shaft F.

In the machine in operation the turn-table revolution of the crank-shaft l and while the cutting, pressing, and turning tools are not actually a twork. During seven-eighths'of the time the turn-table is stationary. .lts upper surface is cut with radial grooves extending from the -periphery toward the center, about one and a quarter inch long and the same distance apart. The ratchet is out upon the cxterior surface of the turntable, whose intermittent ratchet motion is. such. that each groove is brought in succession to any given formed by the inside lower edge of the hole in which the wire enters, and the movable cutter is upon the short end of a lever, ll, which is moved by contact with apin, I,

upon the inside of the wheel ll.. The blank" whencut ott drops into one of the radial';

grooves of the turn-table A which is at rest with the groove directly under the shears. Thenext inovement of the turn-table presents another empty groove; which islikewise filled, andso on. Meanwhile the turn-table bearin gin itsgrooves the cut blanks carries them around about ninety degrees, where they arrive in suceessionat thcpressing apparatus. This con sists, first, of a stationary horizontal cylinder, K, situated within the circle ot'theturn-table, with its axis a little above the axis of a blank, lying in one of the groovcs; secondly, of a punch or male piston, L, actuated by the main crank, I by which itis driven into the cylinder K, Fig.1, and withdrawn as in Fig. 4; third, of a die or female piston, M, which is never nithdrawn from the cylinder, but during the pressing of the lead, rests against a back screw, N, which maybe set so as to determine the length of the cavity within the cylinder, between the ends of the two pistons. The female piston has an entering motion through the cylinder, and about a quarter of an inch beyond. This motion is derived fromthe vertical lever 0 upon the roclt'shal't P, placed under the frame of the machine. The rock shaft 1 is moved by a lever, Q, acted upon by a pin, it, upon the spnrwheel on the crank-shaft F. The return motion of the female piston is cll'ected' by aspiral spring acting upon the lever Q.

When a blank upon the turn-table arrives .exactly opposite the mouth of the cylinder K, the turn-table becomes stationary, the male piston L advances and drives the blank into the cylinder, (whose other end is stopped by the female piston M,') and thus presses the sentin g at its next stoppage another blank, to

be pressed in the cylinder as before. The turning-lathe is so situated that a horizontal line passing through its centers is a little above the axis of a pressed bullet lying in a groove of the turn-table whilcat rest about ninety degrees from the pressing apparatus,-and in the same diameter as thegroove when the blank first falls from the shears. (See Fig. 5.) Both centers of'the lathe have. a longitudinal motion approaching each other, derived from a pair of combined levers, S and T, connected together by the rod U. The primary lever S is moved by the pin V upon the pnnchrod N, and by means ofthe connecting link X gives motion to the dead-center of the lathe 'Y. The secondary lever T gives longitudinal motion to the revolving center Z of the lathe.

The return motion of .these levers is caused bya spiral spring. The revolving spindle or center Z carries a pulley, a, which is driven by a belt, I), from a first-motion wheel, 0. The cut;

ting-tool h is attached to a slide, d, upon-one end ofa lever, e, whose other end is acted upon by a cam, f, upon thewheelf. The turn-ta ble, having become stationary, with one ofits grooves'bearing a pressed bullet between thclatheccnt'ers, the punch-rod \V advances, and the pinV (striking the horn of the lever S) causes the two lathe centers to advance toward each other. The dead-center attached to the lever B, having the greatest motion, thrusts the bullet endwise upon the bridge g, when the two centers catch itnnp between them and revolve it' against the cutting-tool, which, by the cam movement, is caused to descend at the proper time. The turning being efl'ectcd, the centers release the bullet, now finished to the desired shape, and it falls into a. box placed under the machine.

I have thus described the construction and operation of a machine in actual use. It might be variously modified without departing from the principle of my invention.

A machine has been designed, (but is not inoperatiom) in which the lead wire enters vertically and is cut oii' by a horizontal-sliding shear. The blank falls down a conducting-chute and lodges in a notch in a vertical wheel, one motion of which brings it to the pressing apparatus and another takes it away to an inclined plane, which conducts it to the turning-lathe.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is'- The combination of the turn-table or transporting-wheel, or analogous device, with the shears, the cylinder and pistons, andv the automatic lathe, for the purpose of making pressed and turned bullets, substantially as described.

. J. D. CUSTER.

Witnesses:

L. E. CORSON, F. SULL'WAN. 

